


Cornbread Muffins

by idksomethingclever



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 09:52:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4055611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idksomethingclever/pseuds/idksomethingclever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hal meets a handsome stranger in a Starbucks and everything degenerates from there.</p><p>Or- an unnecessary coffee stop au</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cornbread Muffins

So, life wasn’t going the way Hal Jordan planned. Well, “plan” might be too strong a word. There was always the abstract “join the airforce, become pilot, make it big” thing that never ended up happening. The car crash that cost him quite a bit of mobility of his left hand and the frankly enormous hospital debt put a damper on those dreams he had as a kid. He still wore his dad’s flight jacket, but there was no point in being hung up on bygones. He survived the most horrific day of his life, watching his dad’s plane fall out of the sky. This little detour in his life wouldn’t bring him down.

And here he is, one life-changing accident in senior year of high school and seven years of working to pay off hospital bills later. Sitting in a shitty Starbucks, reading what must have been the dullest engineering textbook ever. Back in high school he had a knack for this kind of stuff. Math and physics? No problem. But apparently an eight year break from academia makes one a little rusty. Go figure.

Honestly, he’d have better luck studying in an actual library. But Hal is nothing if not stubborn, and the reason he camps out in this noisy cafe would be coming through the doors any moment. Hal looks up and yep, right on time.

Hal tends to date women. Tends to hookup with women. But he doesn’t like being tied down by anything, including labels. So when he saw Thaal for the first time? A gorgeous tanned man with artfully styled hair, suit, and an accent to die for? Yeah, Hal couldn’t resist flirting a little.

Thaal (and Hal only knows his name because the barista calls it several times a week) and Hal didn’t get off to a good start. Hal tried to make conversation, Thaal didn’t take well to the conversation, and it just kind of degenerated from there. They both went their separate ways and that was supposed to be that. It’s too bad they both turned out to be stubborn bastards.

Thaal’s coffee break from wherever the hell he worked just happened to coincide with the hour gap between Hal’s classes. Hal wasn’t too keen on seeing Thaal again and Thaal clearly didn’t want to see Hal again. Hal could’ve easily gone to the cafe on campus, but it’s the principle of the thing. He could only assume that Thaal was thinking along the same lines.

They ignored each other for weeks. There were a few glares thrown here and there (okay, maybe more than a few), but for the most part Hal went on with his life and Thaal presumably went on with his. 

That was, until Thaal stopped coming in for his afternoon coffee for two weeks. Thaal just got tired of their weird stalemate, Hal told himself. Or maybe it had nothing to do with Hal and he just got a new job or was a taking a break from over-priced coffee. It was just a (very) strongly rebuffed flirtation. Whatever. Thaal had moved on.

Hal sat facing the door every single day of those two weeks.

Eventually Thaal wandered back in like he never left. As soon as he saw the familiar annoyed silhouette, Hal jumped and just barely stopped himself from vaulting over the table. He hunched back down in his seat and decidedly stared at his drink. He wasn’t looking at Thaal, but Hal felt the other man’s presence like a burning in his peripheral. He crossed and uncrossed his legs, tried to distract himself by going over some formulas in his head. Hal thought it was several minutes, but it must have only been a few because when he finally allowed himself to look up, Thaal was ordering his drink.

The first thing Hal noticed was that Thaal was grumpier than usual. There was Thaal’s resting “don’t talk to me I’m busy face” and then there was the time a new barista got Thaal’s order wrong and the glare bumped up to “you’re lucky you’re not wearing this drink right now.” Hal has seen his fair share of Thaal’s glares, but he had yet to see this level of murderous intent directed at anyone before. The barista visibly deflated in relief the moment Thaal turned away.

Unfortunately, Hal was never one to let things go.

After Thaal took his seat and started to drink with a previously unmatched level of intensity, Hal got back in line. Five minutes later, he sat down across from Thaal and slid a cornbread muffin towards his increasingly hostile tablemate.

Eventually Thaal realized that he couldn’t remove Hal from sheer force of will and glanced down at the muffin. “It’s not poisoned, is it? Or is this another pathetic attempt at flirtation.”

Hal rolled his eyes and leaned back in the chair. “I have to be honest, I kinda got used to the whole death glare thing.” Thaal narrowed his eyes. “And you look like you’re seconds away from setting this entire place on fire, so I thought I’d do us all a service.” 

Hal expected a steaming hot cup of coffee to be thrown in his face. Instead, Thaal crossed his leg and looked at Hal like he was a particularly gruesome bug under a microscope.

Thaal tilted his head and took a slow sip of his coffee. “Is it your life mission to be as irritating as possible?”

Hal let out a surprised laugh and made a noncommittal gesture. “I admit to nothing.” He slid the cornbread muffin further across the table. “But I eventually manage to worm my way under the skin.”

Thaal still looked dubiously at the muffin. Hal sighed and drummed his fingers on the table.

“Look, man,” Hal said. “It was weird not having my coffee shop frenemy around. And I know you love these things. You order them twice a week.” Thaal raised an eyebrow. “And I noticed that because who orders a cornbread muffin when there’s blueberry? I mean, c’mon.”

Silence.

Hal, coughed.

“Anyway,” he continued. “Eat the damn muffin.”

And for the first time, Hal saw Thaal smile.

Two months later and Hal is sitting in the same seat as always. Thaal slides into the one across from him and, hey, his life seems to be doing alright after all.


End file.
